It was exciting to be at Appleton Farms, a Trustees of Reservation property, and learn about canning while on assignment for Art Throb magazine. I was anxious to try canning at home–I dream about local tomatoes all Winter long. I love New England, but everything about me longs for another climate. I’m always cold, my hair loves the humidity, and I like to eat fresh, local food. Eating tomatoes flown in from California in December is bittersweet when compared to pulling them from my garden in summer, washing and biting right into fruit I wrought from the Earth in my backyard.

Unfortunately, canning tomatoes is not as easy as the terrific hands-on, instructor-led workshop made it seem.

It also helps if you know how to measure, which I suppose I don’t.

The workshop agenda included canning tomatoes following the National Center for Home Food Preservation website instructions and making zesty salsa from the Ball brand cookbook. About 10 of us got to work on the vegetables while our instructors, Becky and Susan, led the class and answered our questions. All the while I took breaks to video Becky’s instructions, talk to Susan, and write down notes.

Appleton Farms has a fantastic new kitchen–a donor’s gift–that will showcase farm-to-table eating as part of year-round public programming. Part of the “Old House” rebuild–the first LEED Platinum-certified renovated building on the East Coast–the commercial kitchen boasts solar hot water and wood-powered heat and flame from the state-of-the-art, smoke- and particulate-free burner outside. Next summer the kitchen is to expand through the dining room outside to a beehive oven and sugar shack. Produce will come fresh from the field to the kitchen, and onto the table. We used produce from the fields in the water bath canning workshop.

About a week later, I was worried about Hurricane Irene, and plucked most of my heirloom tomato harvest a little early. I’m a novice gardener and this was my first tomato crop, so no way would I risk getting it wrecked by Irene. I decided it was a perfect time to give canning at home a try. I got gear–about $60 worth–and thought I was ready to can 9 pint jars. It seemed like I had several pounds of tomatoes.

Like this:

What a great way to start this Tuesday–I love chatting with Rob & Lisa of the Southshore Morning News on WATD 95.9 FM every other Tuesday morning. But talking about food–especially local food–well that is just something I could go on about all day! However, on The Green Quick Fixes 5, there’s only time for 300 seconds.

Here are today’s segment highlights and five tips for Eating Local in the Southshore.

Eating local lowers carbon footprints, supports local economies, and there are many practicing organic and sustainable farming to buy from. For at least five months out of each year, farmers markets, a CSA share, and my garden supply most of what we need in my household.

Andrea from 7th Mile Run and I recently tested the the 75% energy chews and 95% organic shot blocks, made from things like organic brown rice and caffeine derived from Green Tea. They were great!

“It takes like a Starburst,” Andrea said before reading the Shaklee data sheets which include U.S. Ski Team member testimonials echoing this initial reaction. They didn’t come back up, even with an empty stomach on a long run!

We both thought the second chew (we took a full two for the max single dosage) was a little tart. But for me, it was much better than the strange carbonated tastes of energy drinks.

Clif’s Shot Blocks made really high marks on taste. The Cran-Razz Shot Block was reliable mid-run, melting away in the stomach and energizing the finish.

Shaklee Energy Chews also have the amino acids L-theanine and L-tyrosene, which are said to be mental focusing agents. Along with the Green-Tea derived caffeine, I deifnitely felt focused on my recent running goal–running straight through the blustery Stew Chase 15k and finishing strong.

Even after I anxiously began the race 200 feet from the start line, I paced up quick and finished with enough energy to run a friend in.